BIAL staff in Zurich to work out design details

BIAL staff in Zurich to work out design details
The Times of India

Bangalore: Spurred by Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel seeking redesign of the Bangalore International Airport, a team of airport company officials, including its CEO Albert Brunner, has left for Zurich on a weeklong visit to work out the details.

A month ago, Patel had raised objections when the BIAL made a presentation to him, stating that he was unhappy with the planned “look’’ of the new airport. The BIAL had planned the interiors using locally available granite, with native ‘rangoli’ and other designs for the flooring.

However, Patel felt this would not look modern enough to match other new airports. He also wanted immediate expansion of the terminal building to upgrade its passenger-handling capacity from the present 4.5 million to 11.4 million annually. BIAL sources said: “Since the terminal building is planned in modules, it can be expanded without major design changes. All it needs is some additional investment.

State finance and infrastructure minister P G R Sindhia has already directed infrastructure secretary Vinay Kumar to draw up an expansion proposal and put it up to the BIAL board. “Let them work out the additional costs and come back to us. We are ready to consider giving more,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the construction work has achieved a significant milestone: the concrete pour for the terminal building took place on November 11 and the foundation has been cast.